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Trying drug-free ways to douse the fire in your esophagus

Acid wars

By Cindy Sutter Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
09/10/2012 02:01:48 PM MDT

Updated:
09/10/2012 02:05:17 PM MDT

Chances are you either have chronic acid reflux yourself or know someone who does.

When heartburn occurs frequently, it garners the label gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. One out of five people experience heartburn or acid regurgitation once a week, and two out of five people have these experiences once a month, according to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders.

The incidence may be even higher, since not all sufferers go to the doctor and because symptoms sometimes manifest themselves in atypical ways such as asthma. Frequently proton pump inhibitors are prescribed by family physicians, and as of 2009 they accounted for $13.6 billion in sales and 110 million prescriptions, according to market research cited at CNN.com. Other proton pump inhibitors are available over the counter. So what should you do if you have acid reflux?

The first thing most complementary practitioners advise is seeing a doctor. That can help you rule out serious conditions such as the precancerous Barrett's esophagus, which would warrant treatment with a proton pump inhibitor or a physical malfunction that should be fixed with surgery.

However, an editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine by Mitchell Katz, the director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, estimates that as many as 60 to 70 percent of those taking the drugs should be trying lifestyle changes instead. That's because the drugs can have side effects like an increase in certain types of bone fractures in menopausal women.

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Lifestyle changes include altering your diet to avoid irritating foods such as coffee, alcohol and spicy and greasy foods, not eating two to three hours before bed and managing stress.

Acupuncture

Valerie Hobbs, campus director of Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder, says dietary changes, acupuncture and Chinese herbs can often treat the disease effectively.

She says the school sees a fair number of patients who have a problem digesting wheat. Even if they don't have Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, some are sensitive to wheat, since the high-yielding hybrid varieties now used for wheat production.

"It's a different wheat (now) than prior to what it was in the 1960s," she says. "If there's not an issue of food sensitivity ... we see a person who has lots of anxiety or who overindulges in spicy foods, coffee and alcohol."

She says that, coupled with dietary changes, acupuncture can be an effective treatment, since it can help with anxiety, stomach motility problems and even reducing cravings if the lifestyle changes are proving difficult to make.

"Because we actually change brain chemistry, it has a multi-layered effect," she says.

Hobbs adds that the community clinic model, which is less expensive than a private acupuncture treatment, is often an effective way to manage costs, since it's ideal to begin with one or two treatments a week for about a month. Local community clinics often operate on a sliding scale with prices ranging from about $20 to $40 a session. Southwest Acupuncture College has a community clinic opening today that offers a sliding scale of $10 to $25. Patients are treated by students supervised by the school's instructors.

Herbs and supplements

Matthew Becker, lead pracitioner at the Pharmaca on Broadway in Boulder, says Deglycyrrhizinated licorice, in which the glycyrrhizin has been removed, known as DGL licorice, is a highly effective treatment in chewable form.

"It coats and soothes the whole digestive system," he says. "It can sometimes work in minutes, and in the long run can help repair damage."

He says it can take a couple of weeks to work and should be chewed three times a day.

Becker also recommends marshmallow root (not to be confused with the fluffy confection) and slippery elm, both of which also soothe the esophagus. They are likely most effective in a powder form, he says.

Aloe vera liquid is not only soothing and healing, but also anti-inflammatory, he adds, while also recommending another anti-inflammatory: turmeric.

He suggests the brands Natural Factor's Theracumin or Thorne Meriva. He says turmeric in its typical spice form is not easily absorbed into the body, whereas these preparations have broken it down into tiny enough molecules to allow it to be absorbed.

Becker also says that glutamine is frequently used to help heal the digestive lining.

Ayurveda

Jennifer Workman, a registered dietitian and owner of the A Balanced Approach, often treats patients using Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old Indian practice of eating and health based on body types, season, essential elements and taste.

In Ayurvedic thinking, humans are composed of five elements: water, earth, air, ether and fire with certain components dominating.ans are variations of these elements with certain components dominating. The task of the Ayurvedic practioner is to match a person's type with a diet that complements his or her constitution. A person with fire predominating, for example, would be steered toward cooling foods.

Workman, who, like others, counsels a medical consultation first, says acid reflux is the result of an imbalance.

"It can be too much heat or it can also be too much stress blowing on heat -- wind blowing on fire," she says. "We would definitely want to take away chili peppers, tomatoes, anything hot an spicy, that would be irritating. Coffee can be irritating," she says.

The person would be counseled to eat "cooling" foods such as an eggwhite omelet, warm cereal such as quinoa or oatmeal with a bit of maple syrup or light proteins such as chicken or turkey.

She remembers one client in his 30s, a stockbroker with a Type A personality.

"He ate a lot of hot, fiery foods and was doing tons of hot yoga," she says. "We said, 'back off the hot yoga and do something more cooling," she says, such as Hatha yoga. She also helped him to change his diet to more cooling foods, and that solved his problem.

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